World Cup African Qualifiers: 28/29th Mar

[kompressaur]

28 March 2009
13:00 Kenya (2.8) Draw (3.2) Tunisia (2.4) 109%
13:30 Rwanda (3.15) Draw (3.2) Algeria (2.25) 107%
16:00 Ivory Coast (1.17) Draw (6.8) Malawi (17) 106%
16:00 Togo (5.1) Draw (3.4) Cameroon (1.91) 102%
17:00 Sudan (3) Draw (3.25) Mali (2.25) 109%
18:00 Burkina Faso (2.5) Draw (3.2) Guinea (2.8) 107%
20:00 Morocco (1.4) Draw (4.3) Gabon (8.8) 106%

29 March 2009
13:00 Mozambique (5.5) Draw (3.4) Nigeria (1.83) 102%
17:00 Ghana (1.22) Draw (6) Benin (15) 105%
17:30 Egypt (1.33) Draw (5.3) Zambia (11) 103%

[kompressaur]

Hello my friends. Lets see how the bookies are rating each of these games played in dry mucky pitches.

Algeria are 6/5 generally but you can get 5/4 on them in Ladbrokes and Skybet. I can't see there being many price discreprancies here. Morrocco 2/5 what do i do?......thats right lets see the ht/ft on that ...10/11 ladbrokes. could you back morrocco half time full time? i might have to so all thoughts appreciated.

nah bar that there is just nothing happening. Cameroon at Togo game looks interesting mind.

[kponkpa]

Africa world Cup qualifiers this weekend and i present my thoughts. Saturday 28 March is my birthday and i wouldn’t be online as i will be attending my friends wedding and later in the day i will be going to the Stadium to watch the world cup qualifier between Toga and Cameroun. In the evening i will be taking my friends out for a treat. Enough said lets get to business.
Group 1
Togo v Cameroun
This match takes places in my home city Accra as Togo are serving the ban from FIFA. Technically its Togo’s home but in actual sense its on neutral venue. Togo played all their previous home games here and won all. The Camerounians are here with their full squad. I watched their training on Monday at the Accra Technical College school pitch. I learnt the Togolese will arrive in Accra today (Thursday). It takes only 3 hours to drive from Accra to the Togolese border Aflao. This match has been tagged Eto,o v Adebayor. The Togolese officials have made it clear that Ade will feature. Matches between these two sides have always been close and competitive; the venue will also be a factor as both countries have a good following in Ghana. Cameroun missed the last world cup and from all signals they are bent on making it this time around. Cameroun has a slight advantage over Togo and as such i will go for a Cameroun victory.
CAMEROUN victory
Morocco v Gabon
Morocco is a decent side and is always dangerous at home. Gabon played Ghana in the initial stages of the qualifiers and they are quite a physical side. Morocco will definitely beat Gabon, but the odds are short.
MOROCCO win

Group 2
Kenya v Tunisia
Tunisia have had some decent outings recently even drawing with Holland. They travel to Nairobi to face a tough Kenyan team. Kenya is not much of an African force in football but very stubborn and almost impossible to beat them at their home grounds.
KENYA WIN or DRAW (1X)

Mozambique v Nigeria
Nigeria were the only side to win all their matches in the earlier qualifiers and also coming against the backdrop of missing out on the last world cup in Germany, they will want to start well. Quality wise Nigeria is miles ahead of Mozambique. I learnt Chelsea has sent a report to Nigeria to stop Mikel Obi from playing, though he has reported to camp. Nigeria skipper Joseph Yobo is also injured but is in camp to give his colleagues the needed support. I cant say much about Mozambique as they are an ordinary side. Nigeria will win this match.
NIGERIA win

Group 3
Rwanda v Algeria
Algeria was once a force in African football in the early 90s during the days of Raber Madjer but have been on the decline. Rwanda after the civil war in their country is doing pretty well and recently hosted the U20 African Cup. They are very difficult to play on their home turf and Algeria do not travel well. I am tempted to go for a straight home win but a safer option will be Rwanda not to loose.
RWANDA WIN or DRAW.
Egypt v Zambia
The African Champions should beat Zambia easily at Cairo, but short odds so all depends on you.
EGYPT WIN and EGYPT -1

Group 4
Sudan v Mali
NO BET as this could be anyone’s game. Sudan is good at home and the altitude there is also a factor. Mali have quality players in Kanoute, Keita and the likes. They miss Sissoko of juventus because of injuryas well as Diarra of Real Madrid(not the France Diarra).
Ghana v Benin
My country plays Benin and i expect a good birthday present in the form of a convincing win. The problem with Ghana as most of you know is scoring. They need about 10 chances to score a goal but the good thing about them is they keep creating scoring chances. Ghana always finds it tough when playing their West African opponents, nonetheless on a good day Ghana can easily beat Benin. Ghana will miss deputy skipper John Mensah of Lyon due to injury as well as Laryea Kingston of Hearts. The good thing is inspirational skipper Stephen Appiah who is the heart of the team is back, though he is clubless, he has proven his quality in some friendly games. Essien and muntari will definitely feature as well as Anthony Annan of Rosenborg. Asamoah Gyan who has been on the injury list of Rennes for a greater part of the season will make a return to the team after a long time out (since CAN 2008). Matthew Amoah of NAC is also likely to feature and Prince “the prince of goals” Tagoe of Ittifaq. The notable player of Benin is their star Razak Omotoyossi formerly of Helsingborg now plying his trade in UAE.
GHANA win but i wouldn’t be betting on it. You can try Ghana to cover the handicap at your own risk.

Group 5
Burkina Faso v Guinea
This is my nap for the week. Burkina Faso is playing well and almost invincible at home. This will be a physical game but i expect Burkina Faso to win.
BURKINA FASO win

Ivory Coast v Malawi
There is no need writing much about this game. Ivory Coast with all their stars will easily win and cover the handicap.
IVORY COAST win and IVORY COAST -1

SUMMARY
Best Bets: Burkina Faso and Nigeria
Sure wins but short odds : Ivory Coast, Egypt, Ghana, Morocco
Good bets: Cameroun and Rwanda win or draw

I will try a single bet on Rwanda win for fun.

[Caveman]

Thx for writeups & Happy birthday in forward mate

[Suir Thing]

Nice work, a few more to bring the odds up with the European 'bankers'. Hope Ghana (and Rwanda!) make it a happy birthday for you.

[Suir Thing]

Kponkpa, one other thing, how do you rate the South African team?, for example if you had Ivory Coast & Egypt at the top end of the scale and the likes of Malawi at the bottom? I have a bit of interest in the South African v Norway game, because on the European scale, Norway are fairly rubbish.

[kponkpa]

Rwanda can beat Algeria but the best option is Rwanda win or draw (1X). I woudnt be betting on Ghana Suir, but they will win to crown my birthday. I will be betting on Burkina faso and Nigeria in singles and a double. I will have a treble of Egypt, Ivory Coast and Morocco. i might also change my mind and lump big on a treble consisiting of Egypt Ivory Coast and Ghana, but the odds are too low.

Burkina Faso, Rwanda double for fun and a Nigeria Cameroun double for small stakes. My weekend nap is BURKINA FASO

[kponkpa]

I have watched South africa a couple of times and i havent been that impressed. They are still trying to build a team for the world cup which they host. I know for that match their top striker Benni MacCarthy of Blackburn wouldnt feature because of a hamstring injury. i dont know how far their rebuilding thing is going, but they are an equally poor side as far as i am concerned. From what i have seen of them South africa might even struggle to beat Malawi now, but as i said they are rebuilding a team so things might have improved, but for now i will put them in the same bracket with Malawi Mozambique Sudan Libya Zambia and Angola. Currently the top african teams are Cameroun, Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria and Ivory Coast.

Morocco, Tunisia, Mali, Congo DR and Togo follow closely.

Algeria, Rwanda, Kenya, Guinea and Gabon are teams i will even rate above South Africa currently.

I am sure things will improve for South africa, they play good possesion football and will have to work on their final ball, but as i said earlier they are rebuilding their team so things might change in their favour.

[Suir Thing]

O.K. Thanks for info.

[Belkin]

excellent write ups kponkpa, thanks for it. morocco are my african bet of the weekend - they are very consistent at home with 16-2-0 qualifiers record and should dismiss gabon quite comfortably. they have cameroon in their group so anything then victory would be disastrous.

don't think kenya has too much to beat tunisia, it's probable a draw or maybe close away win in my view.

hard to estimate burkina faso to me but they have quite poor h2h record against guinea.

good luck and happy birthday.

[XFX]

I wouldnt advise anyone to put a big one on Algeria.
They have a poor away record it seems.

Anyway, I took a punt on Tunisia to win tonight.
Tunisia is consistent in their performance and even recently held Holland to a draw (dammit, I was on Holland).
Kenya to me is an average team, but they've just lost 5 players as the coach banned them for putting priority on their league match.
Taking Tunisia for value more than anything else.

[kompressaur]

Cheers chaps. some good stuff. thanks kponkpa for your insights in all these games. Enjoy your dinner and i hope that today leaves you so flush that you even pay for the taxis home.

[trickrick]

It's good to see some invaluble insight from Kponka about the Afircan football. I've taken a piece of your Burkina Faso tip @ 6/4 !!

[traeth]

thanks kponka , I'm also on Burkina Faso

[XFX]

tunisia 2-1